Now those rumors are sounding more like a sure thing. At a broadcasting summit in New York today, News Corp. Deputy Chairman Chase Carey declared that “it’s time to start getting paid for broadcast content online."

His remarks give a lot of credibility to the Hulu subscription rumors, although he didn't have any details on how the pay model would work. He did say that Hulu needed to evolve to include a "meaningful subscription model" in order to grow as a business. He also said he expected that sometime in 2010 you could see these changes occur.

How would users react to a pay model? Would consumers still have access to a free version of Hulu with ads? These are questions that have no answers just yet. A business can't give its product away for free and survive, but angering customers isn't a much better option. They're going to have to think this through to make it work.

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